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Poster: Rick Prelinger Date: Jul 16, 2004 4:26am
Forum: movie_of_the_week Subject: Re: the oldest General Motors Workers.

Many of the Jam Handy/Chevrolet films were made in response to the United Auto Workers' efforts to organize GM and their successful sitdown strikes in winter 1936-37. In a now-obscure magazine article and book called "Business Finds Its Voice," (text available on "Our Secret Century" CD #2, "Capitalist Realism), there's an outline of how "From Dawn to Sunset" was part of a strategy to diffuse union support in twelve cities where Chevy plants were located. I think there's no doubt that the key ceremony, the film "Round and Round," and many other public relations efforts were part of this strategy.

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Poster: Marysz Date: Jul 16, 2004 7:49am
Forum: movie_of_the_week Subject: Re: the oldest General Motors Workers.

That makes sense. The film refers to the older workers as "fine, old craftsmen" instead of what they were—workers. Jam Handy had his own problems; Handy used a lot of animation and in 1937, the film animators at Max Fleischer studios in New York went on strike as the film industry workers also started to unionize :
http://www.mpsc839.org/_Info/Info_h/_history_h/HISTORY5.HTM

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Poster: Rick Prelinger Date: Jul 16, 2004 7:55am
Forum: movie_of_the_week Subject: Re: the oldest General Motors Workers.

The rhetoric of "From Dawn to Sunset" is also pretty interesting -- it describes workers as consumers, and pictures them in a kind of co-dependent relationship with the company. Most of the film is devoted to showing workers shopping, and there are also long sequences of people getting paid. There isn't any sense that workers, when not on the job, did anything other than dance, shop, and hang out at home with their families.

The worker-as-consumer idea also surfaces in the excellent film "Round and Round," made by GM Public Relations later on.

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Poster: cashel Date: Jul 16, 2004 8:09am
Forum: movie_of_the_week Subject: Re: the oldest General Motors Workers.

For me, this has been another case when viewing has been the beginning of learning.I think that is good for our well-being when we get more information and happily change our opinions. Thanks Mary and Rick.

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Poster: Marshack Date: Mar 1, 2005 6:49pm
Forum: movie_of_the_week Subject: Re: the oldest General Motors Workers.

Hello All I am new to this fourm and have a bit of history with Jam Handy as my Granfather waas a cartoonist for them in the 30's. But my question is the is a post by a maree in the A Coach for Cinderella review and she states her uncle word for Jam as well I would like to get in touch with her/him but I do not know how. Not sure if this is the right fourm to be posting this. But hopefully this will find the right path. Thank you all.

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Poster: ridetheory Date: Mar 4, 2005 5:19am
Forum: movie_of_the_week Subject: Re: the oldest General Motors Workers.

Try making a new post -- you're responding to something we were talking about way back in July of last year, and nobody is likely to reply if it's not on the front page of our forum.
This post was modified by ridetheory on 2005-03-04 13:19:53